Looking for breakthrough ideas for innovation challenges? Try Patsnap Eureka!

Sharing prepaid mobile telephony credit among a group

Inactive Publication Date: 2008-05-22
MOTOROLA MOBILITY LLC
View PDF8 Cites 110 Cited by
  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0008]Another aspect of the present invention can include a method of handling prepaid mobile telephone credit. The method can establish a group of mobile telephone devices. Each device can utilize prepaid credit for calls. Prepaid credit amounts can be shared among the group, meaning that each mobile telephone device in the group is able to consume shared prepaid credit amounts to make calls.

Problems solved by technology

Each use of a mobile telephony service can consume an amount of prepaid credit.
Use of the mobile device can consume an amount of prepaid credit from an associated user account.

Method used

the structure of the environmentally friendly knitted fabric provided by the present invention; figure 2 Flow chart of the yarn wrapping machine for environmentally friendly knitted fabrics and storage devices; image 3 Is the parameter map of the yarn covering machine
View more

Image

Smart Image Click on the blue labels to locate them in the text.
Viewing Examples
Smart Image
  • Sharing prepaid mobile telephony credit among a group
  • Sharing prepaid mobile telephony credit among a group
  • Sharing prepaid mobile telephony credit among a group

Examples

Experimental program
Comparison scheme
Effect test

Embodiment Construction

[0017]FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a system 100 for sharing prepaid mobile telephony credit among a group 110 of user accounts 130-134 in accordance with an embodiment of the inventive arrangements disclosed herein. Prepaid credit is mobile telephone credit that can be used for purchasing mobile telephony services. Use of prepaid credit does not require a user to be contractually obligated to a service provider, which is typically the case for postpaid mobile telephony services and service plans. Prepaid credit can be used for purchasing calling minutes, text messages, ring tones, songs and video, and other services. In one embodiment, group management functions and prepaid credit pools can be managed by a network operator 120, which provides wireless service to the mobile devices in exchange for prepaid credits. Credit sharing can be a for-fee service that incurs a service charge or can be implemented as a free value-added service provided by a network operator 120.

[0018]Advant...

the structure of the environmentally friendly knitted fabric provided by the present invention; figure 2 Flow chart of the yarn wrapping machine for environmentally friendly knitted fabrics and storage devices; image 3 Is the parameter map of the yarn covering machine
Login to View More

PUM

No PUM Login to View More

Abstract

The present invention discloses a concept of a prepaid credit sharing group that includes a set of prepaid user accounts. A prepaid credit pool can be established for members of the prepaid group, where each group member is able to use credit from the pool and / or contribute credit to the pool. Group members can submit queries to dynamically determine credit balances available to the group. The prepaid group and individual accounts within the group can be centrally managed by an authorized group administrator. This administrator can also have authority to establish limitations and policies that are enforced for all group members.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]The present application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60 / 866,443 filed 20 Nov. 2006, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein.BACKGROUND[0002]1. Field of the Invention[0003]The present invention relates to mobile telecommunications and, more particularly, to sharing prepaid mobile telephony credit among a group of prepaid user accounts.[0004]2. Prepaid or “pay as you go” mobile telephony services allow users to pay in advance for wireless service. Prepaid services are often utilized by users who want to adhere to a budget or who want the advantages of being able to wirelessly communicate without incurring contractual obligations of postpaid wireless services. Freedom from contractual obligations allows users a level flexibility regarding phone use that is unavailable for postpaid service plans. Additionally, use of prepaid services prevents over usage problems and therefore is more “worry free” than subscr...

Claims

the structure of the environmentally friendly knitted fabric provided by the present invention; figure 2 Flow chart of the yarn wrapping machine for environmentally friendly knitted fabrics and storage devices; image 3 Is the parameter map of the yarn covering machine
Login to View More

Application Information

Patent Timeline
no application Login to View More
IPC IPC(8): H04M11/00
CPCH04M15/751H04W4/24H04M15/7652H04M15/775H04M15/78H04M15/88H04M15/882H04M17/02H04M2215/0116H04M2215/0124H04M2215/2026H04M2215/7209H04M2215/724H04M2215/7245H04M2215/7277H04M2215/7281H04M15/765
Inventor SIVALINGAM, KADARKARAIGULATI, PUNEET
Owner MOTOROLA MOBILITY LLC
Who we serve
  • R&D Engineer
  • R&D Manager
  • IP Professional
Why Patsnap Eureka
  • Industry Leading Data Capabilities
  • Powerful AI technology
  • Patent DNA Extraction
Social media
Patsnap Eureka Blog
Learn More
PatSnap group products

Browse by: Latest US Patents, China's latest patents, Technical Efficacy Thesaurus, Application Domain, Technology Topic, Popular Technical Reports.

© 2024 PatSnap. All rights reserved.Legal|Privacy policy|Modern Slavery Act Transparency Statement|Sitemap|About US| Contact US: help@patsnap.com